I have read and enjoyed latter entries in the Rowland Sinclair series, and I'm glad for that order, because had I started with this one I don't know if I'd choose to continue. This is interminable and boring and if Edna gets called "sculptress" one more GD time I'll scream. The sculptress opened the door, the sculptress drank her tea, the sculptress wept into a handkerchief, the sculptress wrinkled her brow. It drove me insane! Take this as an author getting her hands around the characters and her tone but I'd take a pass.

Rowland Sinclair and his gang of friends, Edna Higgins, Clyde Watson and Milton Isaacs, have sailed to America on the R.M.S. Aquitania. They have met some interesting ship-mates, including several leading lights in the international Theosophist movement as well as an entourage of Irish Roman Catholics, headed by Bishop Hanrahan, who is traveling with his niece, Isobel. Bodies begin to pile up around Rowly, so he becomes a suspect. As the voyage returns to Sydney, Rowly has to work with his police friend to solve the murders. And when the killer makes a move on Edna, Rowly will not be stopped. Another charming period piece from Down Under.

In the first-class dining room of the luxury ship Aquitania, “Death wore a dinner suit.” Also on board are moneyed Rowland Sinclair and his group of bohemian friends, including the attractive Edna, a sculptress. He’d taken them along from Sydney, Australia, on a European holiday for the better part of 1932. Now returning home, they socialize with other passengers en route: Annie Besant, president of the Theosophical movement; Krishnamurti, an Indian mystic; Orville, an Englishman; and an Irish Catholic bishop and his entourage, including the lovely Isobel. Rowland objects to Orville’s amorous advances on Edna. Later, Orville is found stabbed to death by Rowland’s cane. As other murders occur, Rowland is implicated and he has to expose the killer.

Sulari Gentill has penned this appealing whodunit in the classic style, but with an Australian twist. The unique setting of a luxury liner, instead of the more usual drawing rooms or train, adds to the novel’s appeal. Gentill describes the passengers’ social class differences effectively in this mystery. The well-narrated scenes and the introduction of some real-life characters take us back to the pre-WWII era. Although this is second in a series after A Few Right-Thinking Men, it can be read as a standalone. Readers will look forward to the next installment.

This review first appeared in the Historical Novels Review Issue 79 (February 2017)